Breaking up water and oil emulsions



' the accepted sense.

Patented idea. 2} i941 hurrah stare greater panama pr warns. arm on. numerous 1 George L. Monighan, Qklahoma City, Qkle No Drawing. Application July 26, he, I Serial. No. 221.4% a

6 Claims. a. 252-237) My invention relates to means, including procedure and reactive material employed therein,

for breaking up water and oil emulsions, particularly as issuing from the drill hole of a crude oil well, and an important object of my invention is to provide means of this character which are emcient, practical, labor-saving, and unusually economical.

Other important objects and advantages of the present invention will be apparent from a reading of the following description and examples therein given a for illustrative purposes, and

wherein I have set forth preferred embodiments of the present invention.

The employment of the procedure and reactive material of the present invention eliminates the provision anduse of heaters, boilers, and gun barrels and the like, such as are usualy necessitated in successful application of chemical reagents to the water in oil (petroleum) emulsion for breaking up the emulsion as it comes from. the well-hole or flow line, and thereby much reduces the expense for equipment and the labor connected with operating the same, while providing better results. No heating is employed in conjunction with operating and utilizing the present invention.

In utilizing the present invention my reactive material is simply applied to the water in (crude) oil emulsion through the flow line or conduit direct to the stock tanks, where. the water is caused to sink to the bottom of the tank and collect there after a few hours so as to be capable of being drawn ofi, whereby the water is substantially completely removed and that which remains in the tank is no longer an emulsion in I The complete reaction between the reagent and theemulsion whereby the desired results are obtained can take place at a temperature as low as 60 Fahrenheit, and even lower. a

' In actual practice of the invention I have successfully operated the present invention by subjecting the emulsion to a drag or blow through approximately one hundred and fifty feet or more of conduit from the head of the pumping well to the flow or stock tanks.

The reactive material of the present invention consists of the product of a mixture of substantially:

Y Per cent Sulphonated castor oil or Turkey red 011.... 35.0

Rosin nil 36.8

Sodium hydroxide 1.2

Potassium hydroxide i 1.4 Light wood oil, containing turpentine, rosin,

creosote, and pine oil 25 6 The foregoing ingredients are mixed in the order in which they are set forth. The light wood oil referred to is known to the trade as such and is a distillation product of pine oil and contains turpentine, rosin, pine'tar, creosote,- and acids of value in this particular art.

I am aware that substantially all of the ingredients employed by me in obtaining my reactive material have heretofore been utilized in one form or another in products priorly as well as currently used for the same general purpose as that of the present invention. But I am unaware that there is among these prior or current products any combination, comparable to the present invention, which is a similar combination of sulphonated fatty ingredients and which will, under thesame conditions, produce theresults obtained by practice of the present invention, and without the use of gun barrels, heaters, or boilers. It will be recognized that these apparatus are in common use in oil fields all over the world.

While slight variations in the proportions of the ingredients such as might accidentally occur in handling do not seriously impair the usefulness and full effect of the reactive material of the 23- present inventionit is to be understood that the material employed therein,

full force and eflect of the present invention cannot be obtained except by the compounding. of the reactive material in substantially exactly the proportions set forth above.

Although I have set forth and described herein preferred embodiments of the procedure and of the present invention it is to be definitely understood that I do not desire to limit the application of the invention thereto, and any change or changes may be made in the materials and in the manner of compounding and employing the same, within the spirit of the invention and the scope of the subjoined claims.

Having described the invention, what is claimed as new is:

1. A method of demulsifying a water in crude oil emulsion, said method comprising subjecting the emulsion as it comes from the well at normal temperature to a demulsifying agent consisting of the product of a mixture of about 35% to Turkey red oil, about 36.8% of rosin oil, relatively small amounts of sodium hydroxide and potassium hydroxide, and about 25.6% of light wood oil, and allowing the resultant to stand, then removing the subsident water from the lower part of the resultant.

2. A demulsifier for use at normal temperatures for demulsifying a water in crude oil emulsion as it comes from the well-head, said emulsifler consisting of the product of a mixture of substantially 35% of Turkey red oil, 36.8% of rosin oil, 1.2% of sodium hydroxide, 1.4% of potassium hydroxide, and 25.6% of light wood oil.

3. The process pi demulsifylng a water and crude oil emulsion which consists in subjecting the emulsion as it comes from the well at normal temperature to the resultant of a mixture of substantially 35% of Turkey red oil, 36.8% -01 rosin oil, 1.2% of sodium hydroxide, 1.4% of potassium hydroxide, and 25.6% of light wood oil.

4. 'Ihe process of demulsiiying a water and crude oil emulsion at temperatures in the neighborhood of 60 1. which consists in subjecting the emulsion as it comes from the well at normal temperatur to the resultant of a mixture or substantially 35% of Turkey red oil, 36.8% of rosin 011, 1.2% or sodium hydroxide, 1.4% of potassium 5 hydroxide, 1.4% of potassium hydroxide, 35%

of Turkey red oil, 36.8% 01. rosin oil, and 25.6% oi light wood oil.

6. A- demulsii'ying agent oi the character described containing substantially 1.2% of sodium 10 hydroxide, 1.4% of potassium hydroxide, 35% of ,Turkey red oil, 36.8% of rosin oil, and 25.6% of light wood oil, consisting of distilled pine oil.

' GEORGE L. MONIGHAN. 

